There’s no doubt that the 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry was having a rough month in December 1862. They were a new unit (a battalion authorized as part of a larger 160th Pennsylvania Volunteer Regiment). During recruitment, the enlistees had waived their right to elect their regimental officers. Their colonel, William J. Palmer, hadn’t yet made a permanent organization of the battalion and in September had been captured by the Confederates.

The battalion found itself essentially leaderless for a couple of weeks until 1st Lieutenant William Spencer was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and put in command of the unit and Adolph Rosengarten and Frank Ward promoted to major. The unit was properly organized into ten companies and a list of officer candidates was presented to army command for approval. However, as the unit moved southward to Nashville in early December, they still only had about 7 staff and field officers, 12 line officers and about two-thirds of their non-commissioned officers. The were sorely lacking the command structure necessary to be an effective fighting unit.

Attempts to address the problem with the U.S. Secretary of War and the governor of Pennsylvania had been useless. In a final effort to resolve a problem that was leading to increased unrest in the men, the men of the 15th Pennsylvania determined to take up the issue with the general of the army they’d just been assigned to – General William Rosecrans. Unfortunately, the day they set off to speak with Rosecrans was the same day the army started its southward march toward Murfreesboro. The commanding general was entirely too busy to bother with the complaints of a single regiment. It would have to wait.

The 15th was ordered to advance as part of General David Stanley’s division. About one-third of the unit, including its officers, complied. But about 600 men simply stacked their arms and refused to obey. The army left without them.

It was in this depleted state that the 15th found itself, along with portions of the Union’s 1st Tennessee Cavalry, facing a force of Confederate cavalry while trying to make their way to the amassing Union army just north of Murfreesboro. The engagement took place around what was then Wilkerson’s Crossroads (mistakenly referred to in Union reports as Wilkinson’s Cross Roads), which is now the Blackman community on the northwest edges of modern day Murfreesboro. The fight was a bloody one for the 15th, which lost nearly a quarter of its men killed, wounded or missing.

“On the 29th, the command marched by a circuitous route to Wilkinson’s Cross Roads, where it encountered a body of rebel cavalry. Deploying skirmishers, the enemy was driven a mile, when a charge was ordered, and was led by Majors Rosengarten and Ward. Gallantly the command went forward, but soon encountered the enemy’s infantry in overpowering numbers. The struggle was maintained with desperate valor, and at close quarters, the men using their pistols and clubbing their carbines. At the height of the encounter, Major Rosengarten was killed, and Major Ward mortally wounded. The battalion was finally forced to retire. Major Ward, who had been helped to the rear, insisted upon another charge, though bleeding from several wounds. The attempt was made, but the command was again repulsed. The loss was thirteen killed, or mortally wounded, and sixty-nine wounded and missing.

The command now devolved on Captain Veziil, and with the First Tennessee Cavalry, it moved in pursuit of the enemy’s horse, which had destroyed a Union wagon train. All night long the march continued, but without avail.” - History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-1865

The 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry would go on to prove its toughness and tenacity. Six members of the unit would end up winning the Medal of Honor, including Privates John Tweedale of Company B and John Bourke of Company E, who would earn theirs in the Battle of Stones River.

Known Casualties:
Major Frank B. Ward, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment – Died January 4, 1863 of wounds received on December 29
Sergeant Silas F. Herring, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. L
Private Edward T. Evans, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. C – Died February 1863 of wounds received December 29, 1862
Private Richard W. Chase, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. E
Private Anthony R. Kintigh, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. H
Private Frank S. Eaton, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. L – died January 1, 1863 of wounds received December 29, 1862
Private William H. Powell, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalry Regiment, Co. L – Died in Nashville, TN of wounds received on December 29, 1862 at Murfreesboro
Private Issadore Weiler, 15th Pennsylvania Cavalary Regiment, Co. L – Died January 5, 1863 of wounds received on December 29, 1862